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96-690: It is proposed that the declaration be adopted by the United Nations . If endorsed by the UN (as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was) the UDAW would be a non-binding set of principles that acknowledge the importance of the sentience of animals and human responsibilities towards them. The principles were designed to encourage and enable national governments to introduce and improve animal protection legislation and initiatives. The UDAW

192-626: A "systemic failure". In 2010, the organization suffered the worst loss of life in its history, when 101 personnel died in the Haiti earthquake . Acting under the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 in 2011, NATO countries intervened in the First Libyan Civil War . The Millennium Summit was held in 2000 to discuss the UN's role in the 21st century. The three-day meeting was

288-621: A UN official, negotiated an armistice to the resulting conflict , with the Security Council deciding that “an armistice shall be established in all sectors of Palestine”. On 7 November 1956, the first UN peacekeeping force was established to end the Suez Crisis ; however, the UN was unable to intervene against the Soviet Union's simultaneous invasion of Hungary , following the country's revolution . On 14 July 1960,

384-401: A better deal for animals worldwide. Their declaration would also underscore the importance of animal welfare as part of the moral development of humanity. So far a number of United Nations member states are acting as a steering group to advance the initiative at the UN. See Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare, below, for a draft copy. A draft text of the declaration, most recently updated by

480-700: A fundamental barbarism and violence. He identified this underlying brutality in both humanity's treatment of other species and in political, economic, and social relationships, as demonstrated by war, imperialism, and the social injustices resulting from a competitive capitalist system. Salt's commitment to vegetarianism deepened over time. In 1885, he was named a vice-president of the Vegetarian Society . The following year, he published A Plea for Vegetarianism and Other Essays , an anthology emphasising his rational approach to vegetarian advocacy over emotional or polemical arguments. Salt argued that vegetarianism

576-504: A greater consensus on animal welfare". It also invited the member states and the Commission, within their respective competencies, "to support, in principle, the UDAW initiative in the relevant international fora". There have been several drafts of the declaration, with the most recent proposed in 2014. This draft takes into account feedback from UN member states, international organisations and non-governmental organisations. It develops

672-442: A key mentor. Howard Williams' The Ethics of Diet praised by Salt for its humane diet advocacy, also played a role in shaping his views. Salt's vegetarianism was ultimately based on a deep moral conviction. He saw that meat, commonly regarded as food, was actually the flesh of animals slaughtered under harsh conditions. This understanding prompted him to scrutinise the ethical foundations of civilisation, which he viewed as concealing

768-1013: A myriad of autonomous, separately administered funds, programmes, research and training institutes, and other subsidiary bodies . Each of these entities have their own area of work, governance structure, and budgets such as the World Trade Organization (or the WTO) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (or the IAEA), operate independently of the UN but maintain formal partnership agreements. The UN performs much of its humanitarian work through these institutions, such as preventing famine and malnutrition (the World Food Programme ), protecting vulnerable and displaced people (the UNHCR ), and combating

864-727: A number of international declarations supporting animal rights. Perhaps the most prominent venture was the announcement ( The Times , 17 October) in 1978 at the United Nation's Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO ) headquarters in Paris of the Universal Declaration of Animal Rights. Among the Declaration's pronouncements were that all animals have the same rights to existence, no animal shall be ill-treated or subject to cruelty, animals shall command

960-547: A permanent member to block adoption of a resolution, though not debate. The ten temporary seats are held for two-year terms, with five members elected each year by the General Assembly on a regional basis . The presidency of the Security Council rotates alphabetically each month. The UN Secretariat carries out the day-to-day duties required to operate and maintain the UN system. It is composed of tens of thousands of international civil servants worldwide and headed by

1056-606: A plane crash . Months later he was posthumously awarded the Nobel Peace Prize . In 1964, Hammarskjöld's successor, U Thant , deployed the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus , which would become one of the UN's longest-running peacekeeping missions. With the spread of decolonization in the 1960s, the UN's membership shot up due to an influx of newly independent nations. In 1960 alone, 17 new states joined

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1152-445: A two-thirds majority of those present and voting is required. All other questions are decided by a majority vote. Each member has one vote. Apart from the approval of budgetary matters, resolutions are not binding on the members. The Assembly may make recommendations on any matters within the scope of the UN, except matters of peace and security that are under consideration by the Security Council. Draft resolutions can be forwarded to

1248-585: A valuable guiding philosophy for efforts to improve the welfare of animals". And, in the same year, the Council of the European Union discussed the proposal for a Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare and agreed that, "animal welfare is an issue of common concern and importance" It encouraged the EU Commission "to support and initiate further international initiatives to raise awareness and create

1344-409: A variety of UN member states. United Nations The United Nations ( UN ) is a diplomatic and political international organization with the intended purpose of maintaining international peace and security , developing friendly relations among nations, achieving international cooperation, and serving as a center for coordinating the actions of member nations. It is widely recognised as

1440-413: A wide variety of UN member states have supported the public campaign. Some have argued that the agreement does not go far enough and should guarantee animal rights instead of simply animal welfare. The lack of success in shaping internationally binding charters on animal rights has not been for want of trying. People in modern times have attempted to identify and advance the rights of animals at least since

1536-889: A wide variety of complex tasks. The UN comprises six principal operational organizations: the General Assembly , the Security Council , the Economic and Social Council , the International Court of Justice , the UN Secretariat , and the Trusteeship Council , although the Trusteeship Council has been suspended since 1994. The UN System includes a multitude of specialized agencies , funds, and programmes, including

1632-1033: A wide variety of topics. These include the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues , which advises UN agencies on issues relating to indigenous peoples , the United Nations Forum on Forests , which coordinates and promotes sustainable forest management, the United Nations Statistical Commission , which co-ordinates information-gathering efforts between agencies, and the Commission on Sustainable Development , which co-ordinates efforts between UN agencies and NGOs working towards sustainable development . ECOSOC may also grant consultative status to non-governmental organizations. as of April 2021 almost 5,600 organizations have this status. The UN Charter stipulates that each primary organ of

1728-467: Is defined in the UN Charter as the organization's chief administrative officer. Article 99 of the charter states that the secretary-general can bring to the Security Council's attention "any matter which in their opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security", a phrase that secretaries-general since Trygve Lie have interpreted as giving the position broad scope for action on

1824-655: The Battle of Mogadishu . The UN mission to Bosnia faced worldwide ridicule for its indecisive and confused mission in the face of ethnic cleansing. In 1994, the UN Assistance Mission for Rwanda failed to intervene in the Rwandan genocide amidst indecision in the Security Council. From the late 1990s to the early 2000s, international interventions authorized by the UN took a wider variety of forms. The United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 authorised

1920-528: The Four Power Declaration on General Security which aimed for the creation "at the earliest possible date of a general international organization". This was the first public announcement that a new international organization was being contemplated to replace the League of Nations. The Tehran Conference followed shortly afterwards at which Roosevelt, Churchill and Joseph Stalin , the leader of

2016-540: The Group of 77 under the leadership of Algeria, which briefly became a dominant power at the UN. On 10 November 1975, a bloc comprising the Soviet Union and Third World nations passed a resolution , over strenuous American and Israeli opposition, declaring Zionism to be a form of racism . The resolution was repealed on 16 December 1991, shortly after the end of the Cold War. With an increasing Third World presence and

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2112-472: The ICJ Statute , which forms an integral part of the UN Charter, and non-members may also become parties. The ICJ's rulings are binding upon parties and, along with its advisory opinions, serve as sources of international law . The court is composed of 15 judges appointed to nine-year terms by the General Assembly. Every sitting judge must be from a different nation. The Economic and Social Council (or

2208-591: The NATO -led Kosovo Force beginning in 1999. The UN mission in the Sierra Leone Civil War was supplemented by a British military intervention . The invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 was overseen by NATO. In 2003, the United States invaded Iraq despite failing to pass a UN Security Council resolution for authorization, prompting a new round of questioning of the UN's effectiveness. Under

2304-820: The Paris Peace Conference . The League of Nations was approved and started operations, but the United States never joined. On 10 January 1920, the League of Nations formally came into being when the Covenant of the League of Nations , ratified by 42 nations in 1919, took effect. The League Council acted as an executive body directing the Assembly's business. It began with four permanent members—the United Kingdom , France , Italy , and Japan . After some limited successes and failures during

2400-753: The White House in December 1941 for the Arcadia Conference . Roosevelt is considered a founder of the UN, and coined the term United Nations to describe the Allied countries . Churchill accepted it, noting its use by Lord Byron . The text of the Declaration by United Nations was drafted on 29 December 1941, by Roosevelt, Churchill, and Harry Hopkins . It incorporated Soviet suggestions but included no role for France. One major change from

2496-646: The World Bank Group , the World Health Organization , the World Food Programme , UNESCO , and UNICEF . Additionally, non-governmental organizations may be granted consultative status with the Economic and Social Council and other agencies. The UN's chief administrative officer is the secretary-general , currently António Guterres , who is a Portuguese politician and diplomat. He began his first five-year term on 1 January 2017 and

2592-800: The aim of preventing future world wars , and succeeded the League of Nations , which was characterized as being ineffective. On 25 April 1945, 50 nations assembled in San Francisco , California, for a conference and initialised the drafting of the UN Charter , which was adopted on 25 June 1945. The charter took effect on 24 October 1945, when the UN began operations. The UN's objectives, as outlined by its charter, include maintaining international peace and security, protecting human rights , delivering humanitarian aid , promoting sustainable development , and upholding international law . At its founding,

2688-406: The secretary-general , who is assisted by the deputy secretary-general . The Secretariat's duties include providing information and facilities needed by UN bodies for their meetings and carrying out tasks as directed by the Security Council, the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, and other UN bodies. The secretary-general acts as the spokesperson and leader of the UN. The position

2784-614: The 18th century. Credit usually goes to Henry Stephens Salt (1851–1939) for writing the first book on animal rights, published in 1892 and subsequently. And Salt traces efforts back to John Lawrence (1753–1839), one of the earliest modern writers on animal rights and welfare. Lawrence argued in his 1796 book, A Philosophical and Practical Treatise on Horses and the Moral Duties of Man Towards Brute Creation (T N Longman: London), that we have to care for animals and common law should support this principle in practice The 20th century saw

2880-702: The 1920s, the League proved ineffective in the 1930s, as it failed to act against the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1933. Forty nations voted for Japan to withdraw from Manchuria but Japan voted against it and walked out of the League instead of withdrawing from Manchuria. It also failed to act against the Second Italo-Ethiopian War , after the appeal for international intervention by Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I at Geneva in 1936 went with no avail, including when calls for economic sanctions against Italy failed. Italy and other nations left

2976-640: The Atlantic Charter was the addition of a provision for religious freedom , which Stalin approved after Roosevelt insisted. Roosevelt's idea of the " Four Powers ", refers to the four major Allied countries, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and China , emerged in the Declaration by the United Nations. On New Year's Day 1942, Roosevelt, Churchill, the Soviet Union's former Foreign Minister Maxim Litvinov , and

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3072-562: The Charter by the five permanent members of the Security Council : the United States, the United Kingdom, France, the Soviet Union and China — and by a majority of the other 46 nations. The first meetings of the General Assembly , with 51 nations represented, and the Security Council took place in London beginning in January 1946. Debates began at once, covering topical issues such as

3168-666: The Chinese Premier T. V. Soong signed the " Declaration by United Nations ", and the next day the representatives of twenty-two other nations added their signatures. During the war, the United Nations became the official term for the Allies. In order to join, countries had to sign the Declaration and declare war on the Axis powers . The October 1943 Moscow Conference resulted in the Moscow Declarations , including

3264-715: The Commonwealth Veterinary Association (CVA) and the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe (FVE). In August 2008, the national veterinary associations of Chile , New Zealand , the UK , the Philippines , Thailand and Colombia have all given public backing for a UDAW. In April 2008, Eric Martlew MP put forward an early day motion in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom that "calls upon

3360-608: The Czech Republic and the Philippines agreed to champion the initiative. They led a group of governments whose officials have stated support in the following years, including Cambodia, Fiji, Latvia, Lithuania, New Zealand, Poland, Slovenia, Tanzania and the United Kingdom. In May 2007, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) passed a resolution supporting the development of a UDAW in principle, as did

3456-481: The ECOSOC) assists the General Assembly in promoting international economic and social co-operation and development. It was established to serve as the UN's primary forum for global issues and is the largest and most complex UN body. The ECOSOC's functions include gathering data, conducting studies and advising and making recommendations to member states. Its work is carried out primarily by subsidiary bodies focused on

3552-420: The General Assembly by its six main committees: As well as by the following two committees: The Security Council is charged with maintaining peace and security among nations. While other organs of the UN can only make recommendations to member states, the Security Council has the power to make binding decisions that member states have agreed to carry out, under the terms of Charter Article 25. The decisions of

3648-557: The Government to give its full and publicly-stated support for this initiative, including active support within the European Union and the United Nations." The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations recognised UDAW in 2009, integrating animal welfare into its poverty alleviation, disaster relief and livestock development programmes and stating in a report of an expert meeting that, "The Draft Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare (World Animal Protection 2007)... provides

3744-521: The HIV/AIDS pandemic (the UNAIDS ). Henry Stephens Salt Henry Shakespear Stephens Salt ( / s ɔː l t , s ɒ l t / ; 20 September 1851 – 19 April 1939) was a British writer and campaigner for social reform in the fields of prisons, schools, economic institutions, and the treatment of animals. He was a noted ethical vegetarian , anti-vivisectionist , socialist , and pacifist , and

3840-674: The League. When war broke out in 1939 , the League effectively closed down. The first step towards the establishment of the United Nations was the Inter-Allied Conference in London that led to the Declaration of St James's Palace on 12 June 1941. By August 1941, American President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had drafted the Atlantic Charter ; which defined goals for

3936-555: The OIE in 2014 provides a basis for states and peoples to work to improve their national animal welfare legislation, introduce animal welfare legislation in countries where it does not currently exist, encourage those businesses which use animals to keep welfare at the forefront of their policies, link humanitarian, development and animal welfare agendas nationally and internationally, inspire positive change in public attitudes towards animal welfare. The declaration calls for: The principles of

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4032-563: The Soviet Union, and the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement on 27 July 1953. On 29 November 1947, the General Assembly approved resolution 181 , a proposal to partition Palestine into two state, with Jerusalem placed under a special international regime. The plan failed and a civil war broke out in Palestine, that led to the creation of the state of Israel afterward. Two years later, Ralph Bunche ,

4128-400: The Soviet Union, before all the issues were resolved. By 1 March 1945, 21 additional states had signed the Declaration by the United Nations. After months of planning, the UN Conference on International Organization opened in San Francisco on 25 April 1945. It was attended by 50 nations' governments and a number of non-governmental organizations. The delegations of the Big Four chaired

4224-451: The Soviet Union, met and discussed the idea of a post-war international organization. The new international organisation was formulated and negotiated amongst the delegations from the Allied Big Four at the Dumbarton Oaks Conference from 21 September to 7 October 1944. They agreed on proposals for the aims, structure and functioning of the new organization. It took the conference at Yalta in February 1945, and further negotiations with

4320-499: The UN authorized a US-led coalition that repulsed Iraq's invasion of Kuwait . Brian Urquhart , the under-secretary-general of the UN from 1971 to 1985, later described the hopes raised by these successes as a "false renaissance" for the organization, given the more troubled missions that followed. Beginning in the last decades of the Cold War , critics of the UN condemned the organization for perceived mismanagement and corruption. In 1984, American President Ronald Reagan withdrew

4416-412: The UN established the United Nations Operation in the Congo (or UNOC), the largest military force of its early decades, to bring order to Katanga , restoring it to the control of the Democratic Republic of the Congo by 11 May 1964. While travelling to meet rebel leader Moise Tshombe during the conflict, Dag Hammarskjöld , often named as one of the UN's most effective secretaries-general, died in

4512-562: The UN had 51 member states ; as of 2024 , it has 193 sovereign states , nearly all of the world's recognized sovereign states. The UN's mission to preserve world peace was complicated in its initial decades due in part to Cold War tensions that existed between the United States and Soviet Union and their respective allies. Its mission has included the provision of primarily unarmed military observers and lightly armed troops charged with primarily monitoring, reporting and confidence-building roles. UN membership grew significantly following

4608-430: The UN itself and operate with almost complete independence from it". These include specialized agencies, research and training institutions, programmes and funds and other UN entities. All organizations in the UN system obey the Noblemaire principle , which calls for salaries that will attract and retain citizens of countries where compensation is highest, and which ensures equal pay for work of equal value regardless of

4704-446: The UN's focus on promoting development, peacekeeping, human rights and global security. The Sustainable Development Goals (or SDGs) were launched in 2015 to succeed the Millennium Development Goals. In addition to addressing global challenges, the UN has sought to improve its accountability and democratic legitimacy by engaging more with civil society and fostering a global constituency. In an effort to enhance transparency, in 2016

4800-405: The UN's primary mandate was peacekeeping , the division between the United States and the Soviet Union often paralysed the organization; generally allowing it to intervene only in conflicts distant from the Cold War . Two notable exceptions were a Security Council resolution on 7 July 1950 authorizing a US-led coalition to repel the North Korean invasion of South Korea , passed in the absence of

4896-420: The UN, 16 of them from Africa. On 25 October 1971, with opposition from the United States, but with the support of many Third World nations, the People's Republic of China was given the Chinese seat on the Security Council in place of the Republic of China (also known as Taiwan). The vote was widely seen as a sign of waning American influence in the organization. Third World nations organized themselves into

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4992-580: The United Nations can establish various specialized agencies to fulfill its duties. Specialized agencies are autonomous organizations working with the United Nations and each other through the coordinating machinery of the Economic and Social Council. Each was integrated into the UN system through an agreement with the UN under UN Charter article 57. There are fifteen specialized agencies, which perform functions as diverse as facilitating international travel, preventing and addressing pandemics, and promoting economic development. The United Nations system includes

5088-400: The United States . In 2003 in the Philippines, the Manila Conference on Animal Welfare was attended by 19 government delegations with the European Council , United States and Saipan as observers. A foundation text with core principles for a UDAW was agreed. In 2005, the UDAW inter-governmental steering committee was formed and representatives of the governments of Kenya, India, Costa Rica,

5184-421: The United States' funding from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (or UNESCO) over allegations of mismanagement, followed by the United Kingdom and Singapore. Boutros Boutros-Ghali , the secretary-general from 1992 to 1996, initiated a reform of the Secretariat, somewhat reducing the size of the organisation. His successor, Kofi Annan , initiated further management reforms in

5280-510: The assembly gathers at annual sessions at the General Assembly Hall , but emergency sessions can be summoned. The assembly is led by a president , elected by the member states on a rotating regional basis, and 21 vice-presidents. The first session convened on 10 January 1946 in the Methodist Central Hall in London and comprised representatives of 51 nations. When the General Assembly decides on seminal questions such as those on peace and security, admission of new members and budgetary matters,

5376-412: The basis of the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations , the UN and its agencies are immune from the laws of the countries where they operate, safeguarding the UN's impartiality with regard to host and member countries. Below the six organs are, in the words of the author Linda Fasulo, "an amazing collection of entities and organizations, some of which are actually older than

5472-470: The body's former headquarters in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands , making it the only principal organ not based in New York City. The ICJ's main function is adjudicating disputes among nations. Examples of issues they have heard include war crimes, violations of state sovereignty and ethnic cleansing. The court can also be called upon by other UN organs to provide advisory opinions on matters of international law. All UN member states are parties to

5568-438: The century prior to the UN's creation, several international organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross were formed to ensure protection and assistance for victims of armed conflict and strife. During World War I , several major leaders, especially U.S. President Woodrow Wilson , advocated for a world body to guarantee peace. The winners of the war, the Allies , met to decide on formal peace terms at

5664-474: The council are known as United Nations Security Council resolutions . The Security Council is made up of fifteen member states: five permanent members (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) and ten non-permanent members (currently Algeria , Ecuador , Guyana , Japan , Malta , Mozambique , the Republic of Korea , Sierra Leone , Slovenia and Switzerland ). The five permanent members hold veto power over UN resolutions, allowing

5760-424: The declaration are: The public campaign to gain support for a UDAW, branded 'Animals Matter', was launched in June 2006. It reached one million signatures in December 2007 with the President of Costa Rica, Sr. Oscar Arias , becoming the official one millionth signatory and hosting celebrations in San José, Costa Rica , in March 2008. As of 2014, the petition had over 2.5 million signatures and support from people in

5856-520: The earlier draft arising from the Manila conference on animal welfare (2003) and the Costa Rica draft (2005) which incorporated suggestions made by the Steering Committee. It has been argued that a UDAW is consistent with, and could help secure the achievement of, the UN Millennium Development Goals . and the subsequent Sustainable Development Goals . The declaration as of October 2014 had the support, in principle, of 46 countries and of ministries from 17 further countries. More than 2.5 million people from

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5952-420: The eighth secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon , the UN intervened with peacekeepers in crises such as the War in Darfur in Sudan and the Kivu conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and sent observers and chemical weapons inspectors to the Syrian Civil War . In 2013, an internal review of UN actions in the final battles of the Sri Lankan Civil War in 2009 concluded that the organization had suffered

6048-405: The employee's nationality. In practice, the International Civil Service Commission , which governs the conditions of UN personnel, takes reference to the highest-paying national civil service. Staff salaries are subject to an internal tax that is administered by the UN organizations. The General Assembly is the primary deliberative assembly of the UN. Composed of all UN member states ,

6144-437: The face of threats from the US to withhold its UN dues. Though the UN Charter had been written primarily to prevent aggression by one nation against another, in the early 1990s the UN faced several simultaneous, serious crises within Somalia, Haiti, Mozambique, and the nations that previously made up Yugoslavia. The UN mission in Somalia was widely viewed as a failure after the United States' withdrawal following casualties in

6240-445: The failure of UN mediation in conflicts in the Middle East , Vietnam , and Kashmir , the UN increasingly shifted its attention to its secondary goals of economic development and cultural exchange. By the 1970s, the UN budget for social and economic development was far greater than its peacekeeping budget. After the Cold War, the UN saw a radical expansion in its peacekeeping duties, taking on more missions in five years than it had in

6336-475: The first writer to consider the issue of animal rights explicitly, as opposed to better animal welfare . In Animals' Rights: Considered in Relation to Social Progress , Salt wrote that he wanted to "set the principle of animals' rights on a consistent and intelligible footing, [and] to show that this principle underlies the various efforts of humanitarian reformers ...": Even the leading advocates of animal rights seem to have shrunk from basing their claim on

6432-476: The five principal organs are located at the main UN Headquarters in New York City, while the International Court of Justice is seated in The Hague . Most other major agencies are based in the UN offices at Geneva , Vienna , and Nairobi , and additional UN institutions are located throughout the world. The six official languages of the UN, used in intergovernmental meetings and documents, are Arabic , Chinese , English , French , Russian and Spanish . On

6528-501: The journal Humanity , and hosted the first National Humanitarian Conference. From 1897 to 1919, headquartered at Chancery Lane , the League actively campaigned against corporal punishment , blood sports , and other societal injustices through press engagements and public debates. After Salt stepped down in 1919, the League dissolved, and in 1924, former members founded the League Against Cruel Sports . Keith Tester writes that, in 1892, Salt created an " epistemological break", by being

6624-399: The largest gathering of world leaders in history, and it culminated in the adoption by all member states of the Millennium Development Goals (or MDGs), a commitment to achieve international development in areas such as poverty reduction , gender equality and public health . Progress towards these goals, which were to be met by 2015, was ultimately uneven. The 2005 World Summit reaffirmed

6720-845: The natural beauty of the British countryside from commercial vandalism. His circle of friends included many notable figures from late-19th and early-20th century literary and political life, including writers Algernon Charles Swinburne , John Galsworthy , James Leigh Joynes (brother-in-law), Edward Carpenter , Thomas Hardy , Rudyard Kipling , Havelock Ellis , Count Leo Tolstoy , William Morris , Arnold Hills , Ralph Hodgson , Peter Kropotkin , Ouida , J. Howard Moore , Ernest Bell , George Bernard Shaw and Robert Cunninghame-Graham , as well as Labour leader James Keir Hardie and Fabian Society co-founders Hubert Bland and Annie Besant . Salt's shift toward vegetarianism developed alongside his evolving social, political, and religious views, significantly influenced by Shelley , whom he regarded as

6816-497: The only argument which can ultimately be held to be a really sufficient one—the assertion that animals, as well as men, though, of course, to a far less extent than men, are possessed of a distinctive individuality, and, therefore, are in justice entitled to live their lives with a due measure of that 'restricted freedom' to which Herbert Spencer alludes. He wrote that there is no point in claiming rights for animals if we subordinate their rights to human interests, and he argued against

6912-461: The organization are five principal organs established by the UN Charter: the General Assembly , the Security Council , the Economic and Social Council , the International Court of Justice and the UN Secretariat . A sixth principal organ, the Trusteeship Council , suspended its operations on 1 November 1994 upon the independence of Palau ; the last remaining UN trustee territory. Four of

7008-506: The organization held its first public debate between candidates for secretary-general. On 1 January 2017, Portuguese diplomat António Guterres , who had previously served as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees , became the ninth secretary-general. Guterres has highlighted several key goals for his administration, including an emphasis on diplomacy for preventing conflicts, more effective peacekeeping efforts, and streamlining

7104-482: The organization to be more responsive and versatile to international needs. On 13 June 2019, the UN signed a Strategic Partnership Framework with the World Economic Forum in order to "jointly accelerate" the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development . The United Nations is part of the broader UN System, which includes an extensive network of institutions and entities. Central to

7200-501: The pioneering Humanitarian League . During his lifetime Salt wrote almost 40 books. His first, A Plea for Vegetarianism (1886) was published by the Vegetarian Society , and in 1890, he produced an acclaimed biography of philosopher Henry David Thoreau , two interests that later led to a friendship with Mahatma Gandhi . He also wrote, in On Cambrian and Cumbrian Hills (1922), about the need for nature conservation to protect

7296-524: The plenary meetings. Previously, Churchill had urged Roosevelt to restore France to its status of a major power after the liberation of Paris in August 1944. The drafting of the Charter of the United Nations was completed over the following two months, and it was signed on 26 June 1945 by the representatives of the 50 countries. The UN officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, upon ratification of

7392-553: The post, but over the years it has become accepted that the position shall be held for one or two terms of five years. The current secretary-general is António Guterres of Portugal, who replaced Ban Ki-moon in 2017. The International Court of Justice (or ICJ), sometimes known as the World Court, is the primary judicial organ of the UN. It is the successor to the Permanent Court of International Justice and occupies

7488-600: The post-war world. At the subsequent meeting of the Inter-Allied Council in London on 24 September 1941, the eight governments in exile of countries under Axis occupation , together with the Soviet Union and representatives of the Free French Forces , unanimously adopted adherence to the common principles of policy set forth by Britain and the United States. Roosevelt and Churchill met at

7584-560: The presence of Russian troops in Iranian Azerbaijan and British forces in Greece . British diplomat Gladwyn Jebb served as interim secretary-general. The General Assembly selected New York City as the site for the headquarters of the UN. Construction began on 14 September 1948 and the facility was completed on 9 October 1952. The Norwegian Foreign Minister, Trygve Lie , was the first elected UN secretary-general . Though

7680-401: The presumption that a human life necessarily has more value than a nonhuman one: [The] notion of the life of an animal having 'no moral purpose,' belongs to a class of ideas which cannot possibly be accepted by the advanced humanitarian thought of the present day—it is a purely arbitrary assumption, at variance with our best instincts, at variance with our best science, and absolutely fatal (if

7776-532: The previous four decades. Between 1988 and 2000, the number of adopted Security Council resolutions more than doubled, and the peacekeeping budget increased by more than tenfold. The UN negotiated an end to the Salvadoran Civil War , launched a successful peacekeeping mission in Namibia , and oversaw democratic elections in post- apartheid South Africa and post- Khmer Rouge Cambodia. In 1991,

7872-472: The protection of law, and dead animals shall be treated with respect. The Declaration, however, waned and faded away before it could reach significant levels of international agreement. More recently some of the world's leading animal welfare organisations have started campaigning for the United Nations to adopt a new declaration. This time the declaration is on the welfare of animals: the Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare. Welfare rather than rights probably

7968-481: The recognition of an evolutionary and biological affinity between humans and other animals. In 1933, Salt suffered a stroke. He died six years later at Brighton Municipal Hospital , on 19 April 1939, aged 87; his remains were cremated at Brighton Crematorium . The first biography of Salt, entitled Salt and His Circle , was published by Stephen Winsten , with a preface by George Bernard Shaw, in 1951. A second biography, Humanitarian Reformer and Man of Letters ,

8064-450: The scholar Catherine (Kate) Leigh Joynes, the daughter of a fellow master at Eton. He remained at Eton until 1884, when, inspired by classic ideals and disgusted by his fellow masters' meat-eating habits and reliance on servants, he and Kate moved to a small cottage at Tilford , Surrey, where they grew their own vegetables and lived very simply, sustained by a small pension Salt had built up. Salt engrossed himself in writing and began work on

8160-721: The subject be clearly thought out) to any full realization of animals' rights. If we are ever going to do justice to the lower races, we must get rid of the antiquated notion of a 'great gulf' fixed between them and mankind, and must recognize the common bond of humanity that unites all living beings in one universal brotherhood. Salt's first wife died in 1919; following this, he closed down the Humanitarian League. Salt married Catherine Mandeville on 25 March 1927. In 1935, he published The Creed of Kinship , in which he critiqued established religions and laid out his own philosophy which he called "The Creed of Kinship"; it demanded

8256-416: The widespread decolonization in the 1960s. Since then, 80 former colonies have gained independence, including 11 trust territories that had been monitored by the Trusteeship Council . By the 1970s, the UN's budget for economic and social development programmes vastly exceeded its spending on peacekeeping . After the end of the Cold War in 1991, the UN shifted and expanded its field operations, undertaking

8352-404: The world stage. The office has evolved into a dual role of an administrator of the UN organization and a diplomat and mediator addressing disputes between member states and finding consensus to global issues . The secretary-general is appointed by the General Assembly, after being recommended by the Security Council, where the permanent members have veto power. There are no specific criteria for

8448-573: The world's largest international organization. The UN is headquartered in New York City , in international territory with certain privileges extraterritorial to the United States, and the UN has other offices in Geneva , Nairobi , Vienna , and The Hague , where the International Court of Justice is headquartered at the Peace Palace . The UN was established after World War II with

8544-655: Was born in Naini Tal , British India , on 20 September 1851. He was the son of a British Army colonel. In 1852, while he was still an infant, Salt moved with his family to England. He was a King's Scholar at Eton College and later studied the classical tripos at King's College, Cambridge , winning the Browne Medal in 1874 (for Greek epigrams ), and graduating with a first-class degree in 1875. After Cambridge, Salt returned to Eton as an assistant schoolmaster to teach classics . Four years later, in 1879, he married

8640-478: Was chosen because welfare is a softer option than rights and therefore easier for people to accept. Thus it has a better chance of endorsement and of enduring. The animal organisations behind this new declaration envisage that signatory countries to the document will recognise animals as sentient beings. They hope their declaration will make animal welfare an important global issue, pioneer the way for legally binding international agreements on animal welfare and hasten

8736-789: Was conceived in 2000 by a group of animal welfare organizations including World Animal Protection (formerly the World Society for the Protection of Animals), which now acts as its Secretariat. It is supported by a planning group including Compassion in World Farming, Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the Humane Society of

8832-441: Was not merely a dietary choice but a critical component of a broader social reform movement aimed at creating a more humane, just, and civil society, which he termed "humanitarianism". Notably, Salt's writings influenced Gandhi to transition from a religiously motivated vegetarianism to an explicitly ethical one. After encountering Salt's Plea for Vegetarianism (1886) in a London vegetarian restaurant, Gandhi read it thoroughly and

8928-550: Was profoundly impressed. He chose to become a vegetarian by choice, dedicating himself to promoting the diet. Gandhi supported the British vegetarian movement and shared a platform with Salt at a 1931 London Vegetarian Society meeting, where he delivered a speech titled "The Moral Basis of Vegetarianism" explaining his dietary principles. In 1891, Salt co-founded the Humanitarian League, which aimed to promote humaneness and advocate for social and legal reforms. The League's philosophy

9024-447: Was re-elected on 8 June 2021. The organization is financed by assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states. The UN, its officers, and its agencies have won multiple Nobel Peace Prizes , although other evaluations of its effectiveness have been contentious. Some commentators believe the organization to be a leader in peace and human development, while others have criticized it for ineffectiveness, bias, and corruption . In

9120-412: Was rooted in the belief that scientific advances and evolutionary biology had debunked long-held notions of differences between races, classes, and species, advocating for universal sympathy. The League, aligned with early organised humanism , included prominent figures like Howard Williams , Alice Drakoules , Edward Maitland , and Kenneth Romanes . It established an office in London in 1895, launched

9216-613: Was well known as a literary critic, biographer, classical scholar and naturalist . It was Salt who first introduced Mohandas Gandhi to the influential works of Henry David Thoreau , and influenced Gandhi's study of vegetarianism. Salt is considered, by some, to be the "father of animal rights", having been one of the first writers to argue explicitly in favour of animal rights , rather than just improvements to animal welfare , in his book Animals' Rights: Considered in Relation to Social Progress (1892). Henry Shakespear Stephens Salt

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